Skinner: Nikita Parris is on fire at the moment

A first-half brace from Nikita Parris put the Reds in control but, after a Rachel Daly penalty in the second half, the visitors came back into the game.

Despite a number of chances, United could not add anymore to the tally and successfully saw out a period of Villa attacks to win the match.

Speaking to the press after the victory, Skinner discussed taking chances, Nikita Parris’s impact and the January transfer window...

WE HAD MORE QUALITY CHANCES

“I felt like in the first half we were really good. I think if we had been three or four up then they wouldn’t have come back in the second half. I thought we were all over them. When you get a goal back and you get back into the game it becomes a tighter affair. The second-half penalty – I haven’t seen it back so if it’s a foul, it’s a foul. I thought Villa were spirited in the second half and they attacked a lot more.

“Nikita [Parris] was excellent first half, I thought the two goals summed up the beauty of her performance and the quality of the player she is. She will be disappointed not to score that chance early in the second half as well. If we had scored that, the game would have looked more comfortable than the scoreline did at the end. I think we have had more quality chances, more shots on target from dangerous areas than Villa did. I thought it was a good performance and I was happy with it.”

NIKITA IS A LEADER

“Nikita said to me when she first came in that she wanted to play with a fire in her belly and it was going to take time. I think she is performing that way perfectly. I think she is spurred on by disappointments of not being selected but it’s surely hard to not look at her in that aspect as she’s one of the top scorers, she is on fire at the minute and credit to her, she’s a real leader in the team.

“Nikita had a chance at the start of the second half to take her hat-trick and will never want to leave the field. She's always going to disappointed [coming off], that's her fiery character. But we needed pressure higher up, so I freshened my front-line up. It was purely tactical to keep us pressing, nothing to do with Nikita.”

THE DEPTH AT THE BACK NEEDS TO IMPROVE

“I don’t know how busy we will be [in the transfer window]. I always say the business people are doing the business work but I think it’s key that we need quality in depth. I am happy with the quality of the squad but we need quality in depth. If we are going to chase down Chelsea, Arsenal, Manchester City, then we need to invest like they are. I think the players are doing an exceptional job.

“We have come off the back of Chelsea where we have been good in parts but didn’t get the result, we have come off the back of Manchester City where I thought we were excellent but we didn’t get the result, we come in today and we get the result with the same performance levels. At the end I have players who are tired, who have played the full three game weeks. The depth in the backline needs to improve. We are pushing and we need to continue pushing our standards.”

HOME GAMES 2023/24

Make sure you come down to Leigh Sports Village, and Old Trafford on 18 May, to support United Women in our remaining WSL home games this season.

Sun 4 Feb: Brighton (12:00 GMT)
Sun 17 Mar: Bristol City (12:00 GMT)*
Sun 31 Mar: Everton (14:00 BST)*
Sun 21 Apr: Tottenham (12:00 BST)*
Sun 18 May: Chelsea (15:00 BST)**

*Times and dates TBC
**This game is being played at Old Trafford

You can buy tickets for all of these games here.